Dispenser carton box

ABSTRACT

In carton boxes of that particular dispenser type, where the broad front side (2) of the box exhibits a dispenser opening, which is internally covered by a slide panel (18) with an opening (20), the slide panel is displaceable into a dispensing position by an outward pivoting of an associated end flap (26) of the box. The slide panel is prevented from falling into the box in that it has laterally projecting side flaps (28) which ride on the top edges of inner, upright side wall portions (8) of the box, this riding engagement being secured by the side flaps being folded down along the upper, exterior area of the side wall portions (8). Outer side wall portions (12) folded own from the front or top panel (2) are at their lower edge area welded or glued to the root zone of the inner, upright side wall portions. The associated folding of the said side flaps (28) may result in an inward pivoting of the inner side wall portions (8), which in turn disables a perfect face-to-face engagement in the lower joining zone (A, B) between the side wall portions. According to the invention this drawback is eliminated in arranging for a longitudinal cutting line (C) near the middle of the inner side wall portion (8), such that by the folding down of the side flap (28) it will only be the strip area above this line which is forced inwardly, while the remaining lowermost strip area can be joined safely face to face with the outer side wall portion (12).

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates to a carton box of such a type which isshown in FIGS. 3 and 7 of U.S. Pat. No. A 4,066,207, reproduced as FIGS.1 and 2 in the present drawing. An important element of this box type isan interior front panel 18 which is displaceable for exposing adispenser opening 20 and is supported against falling into the box inhaving projecting side flaps 28, which are folded down over therespective top edges 40 of upright, inner narrow-side portions 8 of thebox, while an exterior front panel 2 has corresponding narrow-sideportions 14, which are folded down at the outside of the said portions 8as upstanding from the rear box panel and are secured to these portionsalong a root area A thereof, such that the box sides can be fully closedat the lower or rear box panel while at the top or front there will bean interior, free slot, in which the folded down side flap 28 of thedisplaceable front panel 18 may be freely displaced for an effectiveopening and closing of the box.

By an automatic erection of these boxes it is, in principle, relativelyeasy to establish the particular engagement between the said parts, viz.in causing the relatively shortly protruding side flaps 28 on the inner,displaceable front panel 18 to be automatically folded down over the topedges 40 of the upstanding side portions 8 as a consequence of theoverlying narrow-side portions 14 of the outer front panel 2 beingcorrespondingly folded down for being secured to the said lower rootarea A of the upstanding side portions 8 of the rear panel.

After this folding down the side flaps 28, in being only shortlyprotruding, will show a marked tendency to fold back due to theresiliency of the carton material, whereby they will outwardly affectthe middle area of the exterior, folded down narrow-side portions 12 and14 of the outer front panel 2. This implies complications with respectto the lower fixing of these side portions to the root areas A of theupright side portions 8 of the rear panel, because it is disadvantageousthat the relevant lower plate areas A,B are thereby exposed toseparating forces immediately after the folding down, by which thefixing engagement is to be established.

Moreover, after their folding down, the short side flaps will act asspacer members between the upper areas of the respective inner and outerside portions, thereby making a desired face-to-face engagement of thelower areas of the side portions difficult.

On this background it is necessary to arrange for a complicatedmechanical fixation of the pressed together surface areas A and B until,during the current production, a stabilized binding between the surfaceshas been achieved. Alternatively, it is possible to use a particularlystrong binder, but also this will imply increased production costs.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

With the present invention it has been found that the said problem canbe solved in a much easier manner, viz. in preparing the inner,upstanding narrow-side portions 8 of the rear panel with a longitudinalslot extending mainly in parallel with the top edges of these portionssomewhat spaced there beneath, such that the top edge areas are left asstrip portions fixed at their ends only. By the folding down of theouter side portions the short projecting side flaps will still beco-folded, but now with the possibility of locally forcing the saidstrip portions slightly inwardly, such that the folding down in thislocal area will automatically take place slightly further inwardly andwithout the side flaps causing the upper edge of the remaining, lowerpart of the inner side portion to be pressed inwardly.

Thereby the situation will be greatly changed, partly because thefolding area of the short side flap will is displaced inwardly, wherebythe said outwardly directed resilient pressure on the outer narrow-sideportion will be correspondingly reduced, and partly because the saidspacer member will no longer be active. Thence, the exterior sideportion is much easier to bring into a real face-to-face engagement withthe lower part of the interior side portion, such that an effectivejoining between these portions is greatly facilitated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following the invention is described in more detail withreference to the drawing, in which:

FIGS. 1-2 are the figures already explained;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the box shown in FIG. 2 taken along lines3--3 therein;

FIG. 4 is a view corresponding to FIG. 1, of a box modified according tothe invention; and

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the modified box of FIG. 4 in a viewthereof, corresponding to FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

FIGS. 1 and 2 have already been discussed, and FIG. 3 shows the mutuallocation of the inner side portion 8, the side flap 28 and the outerside portion 14 as according to FIG. 2. It is shown--slightlyexaggerated that the parts assume such positions that it is not easy toarrange for a full surface contact between the area portions A and Bunderneath the lower edge of the folded down side flap 28, both becausethe latter presses the side portion 8 inwardly and also, due to itsresiliency, seeks to force the side portion 14 outwardly.

According to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 4, there isprovided a slot or cutting line C along and slightly below the top edgeportion 40 of the side portion 8, whereby the relevant upper area of theside portion 8 appears as a strip portion 5 which will be inwardlydepressable between its opposite ends.

This is shown in more detail in FIG. 5, which clearly shows that it isnow possible for the side portion 14 to be folded down for a pureface-to-face engagement with the lower part of the inner side portion 8,such that a good face bonding is easily achievable. Besides, theoutwardly directed resilient pressure from the folded down side flapswill be reduced as a consequence of the side flaps being somewhatretracted and folded more softly than in FIG. 3.

What is claimed is:
 1. A carton box of the type having an opening in abroad side portion and with an underlying slide panel that is slidablealong a sliding path for closing and opening of said opening, at leastone side of said slide panel having a side flap for holding the slidepanel being kept! in position, said side flap slidably engaging a topedge portion of an upstanding, interior lateral side portion which iscovered by an exterior side wall portion folded down from said broadside portion and fixed along its lower edge area to a root area of theinterior lateral side portion, and said side flap extending beyond saidtop edge portion and being folded down thereover so as to be slidablyhoused in an upper part of a space between said side portions;whereinthe interior lateral side portion is provided with a longitudinal slottherein, said longitudinal slot creating an upper, inwardly depressablestrip area of the interior lateral side portion above the slot and alongthe sliding path of the side flap.
 2. A box according to claim 1,wherein said longitudinal slot is located slightly below a lower end ofthe side flap and an underlying part of the interior side portion isglued or welded flat against the exterior side portion.
 3. A boxaccording to claim 2, in which the side flap co-operates with adepressed top edge portion having an upright front limit edge formingaprojection stop for the slide panel and the longitudinal slot extendsforwardly to an area of said front limit edge.